Lenoch recognized this sense of disharmony—the being was an Outer God.
A second foot came down, then an arm.
[—————————]
Indescribable screeching resounded.
Gehrman's consciousness flickered. This sound hurt even more than a Psychic Piercing. No, at this point, should it be compared to a slightly downgraded version of the True Creator's rap?
Thankfully, as the notion of 'mythical creature form' didn't exist in this world, the voice of godly beings didn't cause direct loss of control due to a difference in level.
However, there was still a huge gap in their life levels, and Gehrman was still a Beyonder, so he avoided looking at the being.
Don't look at God!
He covered his ears and stared at the floor, suppressing the signs of losing control while shielding Shin Yoosoung with his body. The child also had her eyes shut in pain.
'Would it help if I pulled us above Sefirah Castle?'
Of course, since the being was too high-level and corrupted, Klein couldn't take control of its Spirit Body threads.
Then, he heard Yoo Sangah's voice next to him.
"…Gehrman-ssi?"
Glancing toward her, the woman looked shocked. With his clown abilities to see his body from different angles, it wasn't difficult to figure out why.
As Kim Dokja had mentioned before…
Her pupils shook.
"Y-your face…"
Yoo Sangah took a step back, visibly scared.
His face had turned into worms.
Thankfully, the divinity from his mythical creature form didn't affect people as strongly as in his old world. Otherwise, killing people just by gazing at him would be quite an overpowered ability.
However, seeing a companion turning into a monster itself could shake people's minds.
Their attention was soon diverted by another howl.
The creature's head came out as well, leaving only its torso and second arm left. Due to the Outer God's size, huge gusts of wind swept people away every time it moved.
Van cast a shield on the other incarnations and removed the wind pressure to prevent people from being blown away.
[—————————]
Jung Heewon felt to her knees, unable to resist the pressure.
"Ugh…"
Pieces of buildings flew through the air as the surroundings were destroyed but the magic shield blocked them before they could reach anyone.
Van scrutinized the Outer God with a clear head.
'An humanoid Outer God?'
Considering this Star Stream's obsession with 'stories', he felt that this fact must have a particular signification. Maybe this was a very important historical person?
First, Van decided to check if communication with the Outer God was possible.
"Van-ssi?!"
After a few checks, Lenoch finished analyzing the situation.
First, the Outer God's mind was too corrupted to communicate. That, or the Star Stream's restrictions on its strength had also lowered its intelligence. Most likely, only a 'part' of the being's mind had crossed over to this world.
Second, it didn't seem capable of thinking. It didn't show any signs of making calculated decisions, learning from others' movements, or adapting, but instead seemed to attack blindly.
Third, with Kim Dokja dead and Yoo Joonghyuk unconscious, the strongest person left was Gehrman, but the man in question hadn't displayed any strong offensive abilities. Meanwhile, the others weren't strong enough to face this being.
In conclusion, Lenoch had to face this monster alone.
He decided to strike first and summoned as much lightning as he could.
Ruuumble.
Tsutsutsutsu.
Everyone's sight was dyed in white.
When he regained their vision, Van checked the Outer God's state.
'Not even a scratch…'
Even though he had attacked it with his full strength.
Then, he should try to attack it again and again.
Van fired strong lightning one by one, the Outer God still unscathed.
At that moment, the Outer God swung the weapon in its hand.
"…!"
Without space magic, Van didn't have time to get out of the way and could only set up a multi-layered shield.
Alleviating the wind pressure, his body was thrown through the air against a wall, the wall breaking with the impact.
"Cough…!"
An iron taste spread in his mouth.
As expected, lack of mobility was a problem.
'Should I run away now?'
However, escaping wouldn't matter of Seoul got destroyed.
Van forced himself to stand up and attacked again.
Meanwhile, watching Van fire lightning, flames and ice in succession as if his magic power stat had no limit, the dead Kim Dokja's soul was making plans to solve the current situation.
'This guy is a monster…'
How was it even possible? He was able to have a fight with an Outer God without dying.
Pushing the thought aside, Kim Dokja addressed Yoo Sangah, "Do you hear me?"
Suddenly hearing Kim Dokja's voice inside her mind, Yoo Sangah was startled.
She looked around. However, the reader's body was still lying on the ground.
"I am currently talking inside your mind."
"…Dokja-ssi?" Realizing that she hadn't imagined it, Yoo Sangah questioned doubtfully, "Weren't you dead?"
Was she hallucinating?
Kim Dokja corrected, "I am indeed dead. I am now in a soul state… It's complicated."
Yoo Sangah crossed her arms.
"How can I believe that you are really Kim Dokja?"
Oh. This was proving to be more difficult than expected.
"…Dokja will have a reader's life and Sangah-ssi will have an ivory life. Do you remember?"
Hearing Kim Dokja bring up a conversation from the past, Yoo Sangah wasn't convinced.
This didn't necessarily prove that the voice belonged to Kim Dokja—if this was a hallucination caused by an enemy's skill, then her own mind could have made it up based on her own memories.
"Can you say something that only Dokja-ssi and others know?"
Kim Dokja thought for a few seconds before exposing his colleague, "Lee Hyunsung is scared of women."
Yoo Sangah was embarrassed.
"Something that happened while I wasn't there would suffice…"
Hearing about an event and cross-checking it with Lee Hyunsung, Yoo Sangah finally confirmed that she was indeed talking to the reader.
At last, Kim Dokja explained why he was talking to her, "I have a skill that lets me… contact people who are thinking of me while I am unconscious."
Being dead also counted as being unconscious.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now, but it isn't the time. Anyway, I came to you because I can't contact Van. Could you tell him to think about me?"
Thus, Yoo Sangah approached Van and awkwardly relayed the message.
"Van-ssi."
Lenoch turned toward her.
"Kim Dokja talked to me and… said to tell you to think about him."
"…"
He briefly checked the body on the side.
Kim Dokja was still dead.
However, Van nodded. "Is it fine like that?"
"…It isn't." Kim Dokja told Yoo Sangah.
Somehow, he couldn't access Van's mind.
Kim Dokja sighed.
"Yoo Sangah-ssi, could you pass on my instructions to him?"
Yoo Sangah listened to the reader's explanation.
"Dokja-ssi says to 'buy time since the Star Stream will eventually take back the Outer God' due to… 'probability'?" Unsure of what the things she was repeating meant, she continued, "…We only need to last long enough since they can't keep the Outer God in reality forever."
"I see."
Lenoch made a plan.
"…Just buy me some time."
Van threw another flame toward the Outer God then evaded its sword by a hair's breadth by manipulating the magic threads attached to his body.
Being unable to use space magic to avoid made things difficult.
Yoo Sangah went to another person and relayed Kim Dokja's words.
Behind her, Van was thrown against a wall once more, making her flinch.
"…Is he really going to be okay?"
Van was covered in his own blood at this point.
They focused again.
"So, Jung Heewon will… and Lee Hyunsung will…"
Then came Gehrman Sparrow's turn.
Yoo Sangah hesitated. She was still scared by what she had seen earlier.
"I will act based on my own judgment," Gehrman declared.
He had learned his lesson and didn't want to be caught up in another of the reader's plans.
As Van evaded one attack, another immediately came after without letting him time to fight back. Van put up a shield to par it while the shield barely resisted again.
He was pretty sure a few of his ribs were broken since earlier.
"Cough! Cough…"
Not bothering to wipe off the blood, Van threw a spear toward its eye. It still had no damage.
The biggest problem was that his mana was nearly depleted…
"Van! We're ready!"
Van could finally breathe a little.